You never leave the house without a roll of quarters, pen, paper and your camera, just in case you get a chance to stop for some research.

You know more about the area your ancestors lived than the current residents do.

You weigh a non-essential purchase by how many vital records you will have to give up to get it.

You know where all cemeteries within a 25 mile radius are even though none of your ancestors anywhere near where you live.

You've ever met a cousin while requesting a lookup.

You regard burned courthouses as a challenge, not an obstacle.

New people are warned not to mention anything related to family history before they are introduced to you.

Instead of running background checks on prospective dates, you check their family history.

You find out after spending hundreds of dollars and several years of researching that your great-aunt knew the answer to your question all along, but you don't care because you love the thrill of the hunt.

You have more movies than NetFlix and they're all about your family-recordings of family reunions, interviews with older relatives and home movies.

You are jealous of other genealogists because they have family Bibles, handwritten letters and other family memorabilia while yours apparently didn't save anything.

The pharmacist asks you to decipher the doctor's handwriting on your prescription because you're better at reading hard to read handwriting than he is.

You've arranged to have a QR code put on your headstone that points to a perpetually maintained website with your genealogy so that anyone with a smartphone that visits your final resting place can learn about your family.

You've been offered a job at a courthouse, archives or library because you know more about the holdings than the employees do.

You can pinpoint the exact location of your ancestor's 18th century land patent. Bonus points if you've traveled there to see what it looks like now.

You've read this entire list and more than half of it applies to you.

There is no cure for a genealogy addiction. Passing on your addiction is others is recommended.

Loved this! I laughed out loud, too, with recognition. Some I've done, some I plan to do :) (like move to where my ancestors lived...actually, move back home but the thought crossed my mind--easier access to records!) I like the QR code on the tombstone idea!

Welcome to Ancestrally Challenged. I have been interested in genealogy for over 10 years, but it wasn't until 2007 that I began to pursue it seriously. This blog is to document my trials and triumphs as I trace my family history, as well as my goal to become a professional genealogist so I can help others learn more about their heritage.

The surnames tab above has information on the main surnames I research. If you have a common ancestor, think we might be related, have some information to share on one of my research interests or would like a free lookup from one of the books in my personal genealogy library, feel free to contact me. I enjoy meeting new cousins and am happy to share whatever information I have.